Thrillers, Romance, and Amazon

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What is selling on Amazon? That’s a big question. Looking at Amazon right now, in the top 10, you see mostly Suspense/Thriller and Romance. And mostly a combination of those three. Right now, “The Hunger Games” trilogy is eating up the top spots. But we can figure the reason for that is the movie coming up.

But even those have a certain level of suspense.

I wish I could find the article again, but the latest polls show that the majority of eBook readers are women over forty. Which this demographic, in majority, read what? Yeah, thrillers and romances. Now we can see a correlation as to why the top ten is the way it is.

Let’s also take a look at two of the top performing self-publishers to grace Amazon. J. A. Konrath and Amanda Hocking. Writers of thrillers and paranormal-romances respectively. So what can I take from that? That it may not be the quality of their work that is driving their sales, but the genre in which they write.

People are clamoring for this stuff. They can’t get enough of it. And I don’t begrudge this demographic for liking what they like. It is just unfortunate that the genres that I write and read are not having the same pull.

Which is rather funny to me. SciFi/Fantasy readers tend to be early adopters to new technology. Go to Dragon*Con, Gen Con, and PAX and I guarantee you’ll see more iPhones in one place than you’ll see for the rest of your life. We love our tech. So why haven’t the majority of us moved to eReaders?

Whatever that answer is, thrillers and romance novels dominate Amazon. If you’re looking to make the BIG BUCKS through self-publishing, don’t look to SciFi/Fantasy. I’m not saying you can’t make a living from your work. I’m just saying I can’t see you pulling down 100k in a single month.

At least not yet.

In the meantime, I’ll continue to write my YA-SciFi-Horror novel. And after that? Maybe a paranormal-romance. Just for kicks, right? Write.